the practice of using infodump n. in literature
Pulp sf writers in general had not yet contrived to standardize a vocabulary of images and a narrative method which would permit the construction of imaginary worlds without recourse to massively cumbersome info-dumping.
Previous authors attempting to broaden out their vision of the future by ladling dollops of the Encyclopedia Galactica into their work—usually as chapter introductions—had generally been thought guilty of the bad practice of ‘info-dumping’.
Apart from Alex’s occasional commentary in A Clockwork Orange, the aforementioned plays rely entirely on dialogue for infodumping and scene description—which, to the scriptwriters' credit, is never contrived or obtrusive.
In Mockeymen (Golden Gryphon, $26.95), Ian Watson raises infodumping to the level of art.
antedating 1999
in the New York Times Book Review
We would like citations of any date from other authors.
Last modified 2021-11-06 14:09:29
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